kindergarten/social groups

May 30, 2002

,

I feel like crying with you about Lindseys pre-k experience, as I have shared a

number of times in the past on here about our several disastrous tries with our

son. He, like (of the twins, and , can't think of, oh yes,

Suzi I think is the mom?) is a very social little boy in that he LOVES to feel a

part of the group, loves to laugh, joke, be silly and mischievious and he loves

to be around other kids. HOWEVER, he ALSO has this thing called dyspraxia all

over his body....so he is never quite sure how his body is going to work....is

it going to be an " on " day or an " off " day, hour or minute. My theory is that

this creates a constant feeling of insecurity, which when stressed further by a

lot of demands to perform, remember, etc. or too much stimuli to process

results in these odd " tics " which for my kid changes but are all odd: eye

blinking, grabbing at crotch, blowing on hands, turning head to one side,

putting up one finger, making high pitched " squeaks " , etc. etc......they are all

repetitive but usually only one or two are prevalent at a time. When things are

okay, he feels secure and safe and the demands aren't more than he can handle he

plays beautifully with other kids and shows none of these " tics " shall we call

them? When we discovered this past January (inspite of a number of hearing

evaluations in the past) that he had complete conductive hearing loss in one ear

and we put it together with a severe ear infection where his eardrum was

perforated in the OTHER ear we realized why his " tics " had become so severe and

out of control during those few weeks. I am ALL for getting a complete hearing

evaulation by a certified audiologist every year or 18months....because you

never know what new thing could go wrong with their hearing....we were SHOCKED

to find out about this lack of hearing as he had had his last hearing eval done

two and a half years ago, and had had maybe one ear infection during that entire

time period and there were none of the normal signs of hearing loss and he

himself did not complain about it.....so keep checking, keep looking .....how

did I get on to this from kindergarten? Has anyone else read the book by Dr.

Harold Levinson called Smart but feeling Dumb? Even though it was written

18-20 years ago, a lot of it sounds like our kids.....tell me what you think if

have read it. Carol p.s. to get back to the kindergarten issue: mainstream

classes can as different as night and day....we have found a SMALL (in size and

in number of children) mainstream class with an OBSERVANT and NURTURING (read

respectful of each child's dignity and worth) teacher to be just right for our

child. Overall he has had a very happy year during which he has actually

learned some things and improved some of his skills. , what will you do

with Lindsey this year? Will you wait until she is six for kindergarten or

start this Sept.? Carol

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